1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device which is capable of electrochemically adsorbing and releasing carbon dioxide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carbon dioxide is a substance existing widely on the earth, which accounts for 0.04% of the atmosphere, and is a compound which is widely used in the industry. Specific examples of the industrial use of carbon dioxide include a foaming gas of carbonated beverages, bath additives, and fire extinguishing compositions, dry ice for cooling, and air for emergency replenishment of bicycles. Carbon dioxide in a supercritical state is used as a solvent for extraction of caffeine, and is also used in a laser used for processing in the industrial field, and a carbonic acid gas laser used as a medical laser knife. Carbon dioxide is also used as a substitute for a chlorofluorocarbon-based refrigerant in a CO2 refrigerant compressor.
In the agriculture, carbon dioxide is also used in a forcing culture (cultivation of out-of-season crops with artificial heat or light) of strawberries, and carbon dioxide fertilization which accelerates the growth of plants such as aquatic plants in ornamental aquaria, and is also used in controlled atmosphere storage (CA storage) of fresh agricultural products.
As mentioned above, carbon dioxide has been used widely and commonly. However, there has hitherto been used mainly, as technology of storing carbon dioxide, compression/adsorption technology of compressing and adsorbing carbon dioxide using zeolite as disclosed in JP 7-39752 A, or technology of adsorbing carbon dioxide using an alkaline liquid or semiliquid as disclosed in JP 11-114353 A, and there was not a device which consumes low energy and also can perform adsorption and desorption of carbon dioxide without requiring a large-scale apparatus.
Patent Document 1: JP-7-39752 A
Patent Document 2: JP-11-114353 A
The solutions reported in the prior art documents had a problem that large energy is required for application of heat in the case of adsorption and desorption, and thus failing to reconcile adsorption/desorption performances and low energy consumption.